Pressure-regulating device.



Now 797,162. PATENTED AUG. 15, 1905. H. E. WESTINGHOUSE :5: F. L. CLARK. PRESSURE REGULATING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV.9,1899.

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v M Att'yf No. 797,162. 7 PATENTED AUG. 15, 1905, H. H WE$TINGHOUSE (S: F. L. CLARK.

PRESSURE REGULATING DEVICE. APPLICATION FILED Home, 1899.

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UNITED PATENT OFFICE,

HENRY HERMAN WESTINGHOUSE, OF EDGEWOOD, AND FRANCIS L. CLARK, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, AEBSIGNORS TO THE WESTINGHOUSE AIR BRAKE COMPANY, OF PITTEBBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, A OORPORA- TlON OF PENNSYLVANIA.

1N0. verges.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 15, 1905.

Application filed November 9, 1899, Serial No. 736,422.

To (LZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, HENRY HERMAN Wns'rme-noose, residing at Ed gewood, and FnANoIs L. CLARK, residing at Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny, State of Pennsylvania, citizens of the United States, have invented or discovered a certain new and useful Improvement in Pressure-RegulatingDevices, of which improvement the following is a specification.

This invention relates to fluid-pressu re regulators, and has for its object to provide an improved valve device for controlling the flow of fluid from a source of higher pressure to a passage or space in which the fluid is to be maintained at a substantially constant degree of pressure which is lower than that of the source of supply.

Our invention comprises a regulating device which is specially adapted to be employed in connection with an engineers brake-valve, and a train-pipe of an automatic air-brake system for the purpose of automatically feeding air to the train-pipe; but it will be obvious that it may be employed in some other connection as an automatic feed or reducing-valve device, and our improved regulatingdevice is therefore not limited in its application to an air-brake apparatus.

In the accompanying drawings, which illus trate an embodiment of our invention, Figure 1 is a central longitudinal section of our improved regulating device; Fig. 2, a view, partly in section and partly in elevation, at right angles to that shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a view, partly in section and partly in elevation, showing our improved regulating device in combination with an engineers brake-valve; Fig. 45, a section on the line m of Fig. 3, showing the regulating device and part of the engineers brake-valve in plan View and in dotted lines the passages by which the regulating device communicates with the main-reservoir and train-pipe passages in the engineers brake-valve; and Fig. 5, a plan view of the rotary valve of the engineers brakevalve device.

As shown in the drawings, the casing 1 of the regulating or automatic-feed valve device is secured to the casing 52 of the engineers brake-valve in such a position that the passage 3 of the casing 1 registers with the passage a of the casing 2, which communicates with the main reservoir through a port 33 in the valveseat and through a port 5 in the rotary valve 6 when that valve is in running position. The passage 7 in the casing 1 registers with a passage 8 in the casing 2, which is in communication with the train-pipe just below the direct application and supply port 9. When the handle of the engineers brake-valve is in running position, fluid under pressure is admitted from the main reservoir, through the passage 5 in the rotary valve and through the port 33 and passages l and 3, to a passage or space 10 and to the slide-valve chamber 11 in the casing of the regulating-valve device, and the slide-valve 12 is exposed to main-reservoir pressure, tending to hold the valve to its seat.

The main valve 12, which is preferably a slide-valve, is provided with wings 13, which project upward on each side of the stem 14 of a movable abutment or piston 15 and which are fitted between shoulders 16 and 17 so that the valve will be moved whenever the piston is moved in either direction. The piston 15 is located in a chamber 18, which is closed at one end by a cap-nut l9, and a spring 20 bears at one end on the piston and at the other end on the cap'nut and tends to move the piston and feed-valve 12 into position to close the port 21 in the valve-seat. When the piston 15 and the feed-valve 12 are moved to the right, so as to uncover the port 21, the port 21 forms a communication between the passsage 10 and a passage 22, which connects, through the passages 7 and 8, with the trainpipe. A passage 28 connects the passage 22 with a chamber 2 1, which is closed on one side by a movable abutment 0r diaphragm 25, which is adapted to be moved in one direction by a spring 26 and in the other direction by the fluid pressure above it in the chamber 24. A small regulating-valve 27 controls a passage 28 between the diaphragm-chamber 24: and a chamber or space 29, which communicates, through a passage 30, with the piston chamber 18. The movable abutment or diaphragm is at all times exposed on its upper side to the pressure in the train --pipe, the chamber 2st being in open communication therewith through the passages 23, 22, 7, and 8, and when the desired maximum pressure exists in the train-pipe the diaphragm 25 will. be moved. downward out of contact with the stem of the valve 27, thereby permitting closure of the valve 27.

When the brake system is not charged with fluid under pressure and the piston 15 is not exposed on either side to fluid under pressure,

voir or source of high pressure through the port 5 in the rotary valve and through the passages 1, 3, and to the slide-valve chamber 11, and the back of the slide-valve 12 and the left-hand side of the piston 15 will be ex posed to mainreservoir pressure. A gradual leak of fluid will take place around the piston 15 into the chamber 18 on the right of the piston, and so long as the small valve 27is closed the piston 15 will be exposed on both sides of equal area to main-reservoir pressure and the valve 12 will be held in its closed position by the spring 20. If the pressure in the trainpipe or space containing the lower pressure falls below the desired normal maximum pressure, which is usually about seventy pounds, the spring 26 will raise the diaphragm and by contact with the stem of the small valve 27 that valve will be unseated and a communication established between the chamber 18 and the train-pipe, through the passages 29 28, chamber 2 1, and passages 23, 22, 7, and 8. Fluid under pressure will then flow from the chamber 18 to the train-pipe, and the main-reservoir pressure on the leftof the piston 15 will move the piston 15 and the valve 12 to the right, so as to compress the spring 20 and open the port 21, which will permit fluid under pressure from the main reservoir to flow to the train-pipe until the train-pipe pressure and the pressure in the diaphragmchamber 24 reaches the desired maximum, when the diaphragm will be moved down against the pressure of the spring 26 and the small valve 27 will be seated by the spring 31. Fluid under pressure from the main reservoir will again leak around the piston 15 until the pressure on the right of the piston in the chamber 18, together with the pressure of the spring 20, is great enough to move the valve 12 to the left, so as to close the port 21. The port 21 will remain closed until thepressure in the train-pipe and in the chamber 24: again falls below the maximum, when the diaphragm will again be raised and the small valve 27 unseated to permit the pressure on the right of the piston 15 to flow to the trainpipe, when the piston 15 and valve 12 will again move to the right and open the port 21 to admit fluid from the main reservoir to the train-pipe until the train-gipe pressure and the pressure in the chamber 21 again reach the maximum, when the diaphragm will be moved down and the small valve 2'? closed, so as to permit an accumulation of pressure from'the main reservoir in the chamber 18 and the closing of the valve 12.

Our improvement permits the employment of a valve which is balanced as to fluid-pressure in the direction of its movement, such as a slide-valve for controlling the feed-port21, by means of which construction leakage from the main reservoir to the train-pipe may be prevented when the train-pipe is charged to the desired pressure and the parts are in position to close the feed-port, the employment of a slide-valve preventing any danger of dirt or any foreign substance keeping the valve from its seat. The piston 15 and the slidevalve 12 are moved back and forth alternately by an accumulation and release of pressure on one side of the piston, and the small regulating-valve 27 and the connections of the chamber 18 with the train-pipe permit the release of air from the chamber 18 to flow to the train-pipe, thereby avoiding any waste of air or any leakage to the atmosphere and maintaining the system in an air-tight condition.

In order to charge the slide-valve chamber 11 with fluid from the main reservoir when the rotary valve 6 is in the full-release position and when the train-pipe is being charged directly through the port 3 .1 in the rotary valve and the port 9 in the valve-seat, we provide in the rotary valve a small port 32, which when the rotary valve is in release position registers with the feed-port 33 in the valve-seat, through which fluid from the main reservoir is admitted to the passage 4: when the rotary valve is in the running position. By this means the slide-valve chamber 11 may be charged with main-reservoir pressure for the purpose of holding the slide-valve to its seat While the train-pipe is being charged and before the rotary valve 6 is moved to the running position.

While the connecting passages and spaces between the train-pipe and the chamber 18, controlled by the regulating-valve 27, are separately numbered for the purpose of clearly describing them, it will be seen that they constitute a single passage the form of which may vary in accordance with variations of construction which may be employed for convenience of construction without any variation in the principle of operation of our invention.

By means of the use of a slide-valve for controllingthe feed-port the areas of the actuating-piston exposed to fluid-pressure upon its opposite sides are equal, so that when the small regulating-valve is closed the fluidpressures, acting on said piston, are balanced, and the spring 20 may be made of any strength desired to give the proper action of the valve. This construction also secures a more prompt opening of the valve upon a slight reduction below normal on the low-pressure side, thus reducing to a minimum the difference between the pressures required to open and close the valve, which is an important advantage in the practical operation of valves of this character.

'We claim as our invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. A pressure-regulating device comprising a main valve for controlling the flow ot' fluid from a source of higher pressure to a passage or space in which the fluid is maintained at a lower pressure, a movable abutment having equal areas exposed to fluid-pressure on its opposite sides for operating said valve, a load device normally tending to move said valve to one position, a regulating-valve controlling the pressure of fluid on one side of said abutment, and means governed by the lower pressure for operating said regulating-valve.

2. A pressure-regulating device comprising a main valve for controlling the flow of fluid from a source oi higher pressure to a passage or space in which the fluid is maintained at a lower pressure, a movable abutment having equal areas exposed to fluid-pressure on its opposite sides for operating said valve, a load device normally tending to move said valve to one position, a regulating-valve for controlling the release of fluid from one side of said abutment, and means governed by the lower pressure for operating said regulatingvalve.

3. A pressure-regulatingdevice comprising a main valve for controlling the flow of fluid from a source of higher pressure to a passage or space in which the fluid is maintained at a lower pressure, a movable abutment having equal areas exposed to fluid-pressure on its opposite sides for operating said valve, a spring normally tending to move said valve to its closed position, a regulating-valve for controlling the release of fluid from one side of said abutment, and means governed by the lower pressure for operating said regulatingvalve.

i. In a pressure-regulating device, the combination of a main slide-valve for controlling the flow of fluid from a source of higher pressure to a passage or space in which the fluid is maintained at a lower pressure, a movable abutment having equal areas exposed to fluidpressure on its opposite sides for operating the main slide-valve, means normally tending to close said valve, a regulating-valve controlling the pressure of fluid on one side of the abutment, and means governed by the lower pressure for operating the regulatingvalve.

5. In a pressure-regulating device, the combination of a main slide-valve for controlling the flow ol fluid from a source of higher pressure to a passage or space in which the fluid is maintained at a lower pressure, a movable abutment having equal areas exposed to fluidpressure on its opposite sides for operating the main slide-valve, a spring acting to close said valve upon equalization of fluid-pressures upon opposite sides of said abutment, a regulating-valve for controlling the pressure upon one side of the abutment, and a diaphragm subject to the opposing forces of the lower fluid-pressure and an adjustable spring for operating said regulating-valve.

6. A pressure-regulating device comprising a casing containing a chamber in open communication with a source of fluid-pressure and provided with a valve-seat, a port in said valve-seat communicating with a passage or space in which the fluid is maintained at a lower pressure, a main slide-valve subject to the higher pressure for controlling said port, a piston having equal areas exposed to fluidpressures upon its opposite sides for operating said valve and exposed on one side to the higher pressure, means for permitting a leakage of fluid to the piston-chamber on the opposite side, a spring acting to move said slidevalve to its closed position upon equalization of the fluid-pressures, a regulating-valve for controlling the release of fluid from the pis ton-chamber, and means governed by the lower pressure for operating the regulating-valve.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands.

HENRY HERMAN WESTINGHOUSE. FRANCIS l1. CLARK.

l/Vitnesses:

GEO. V. MI LIGAN, JAs. B. MAcDoNALp, 

